AAdvantage MileSAAver: Through Award Fare Restriction Dec 2018

It is AA's policy to protect on separate tickets, when one ticket is on AA, and the other ticket is on any oneworld carrier (including AA).

You could try calling a BAEC Service Center to see if an agent can place both AA flights on a single ticket. You might or might not be able to get the telephone-ticketing service fee waived, but you should be able to avoid the second $5.60 September 11 security fee if both flights are on a single ticket.

BA wasn't able to put the two flights on the same ticket. If the connections are indeed protected (I am personally surprised that they are willing to do this for separate tickets), then it shouldn't matter, right? The only downside would be having to pay $5.60 twice.

BA wasn't able to put the two flights on the same ticket. If the connections are indeed protected (I am personally surprised that they are willing to do this for separate tickets), then it shouldn't matter, right? The only downside would be having to pay $5.60 twice.

Correct. Be aware, though, that not all AA front-line agents are aware of AA's special protection policy, so be prepared to escalate to a supervisor if necessary. A call to AA's Off-Schedule Operations number (800-446-7834) might also be useful if you mis-connect.

So basically what I'm getting from this thread is MilesAAver tickets are moving towards becoming reduced rate DIRECT flights? Having X number of A>>>>B and X number of B >>>>C but 0 of A>>>>C sure makes it seem that way.

So basically what I'm getting from this thread is MilesAAver tickets are moving towards becoming reduced rate DIRECT flights? Having X number of A>>>>B and X number of B >>>>C but 0 of A>>>>C sure makes it seem that way.

No - if there is through availability, then there is no issue; the OP hit an issue with availbility ; that doesn't extrapolate out to all people not being able to get a booking from A-C via B

I think they look at routing that is more desirable and has less overall seat inventory and release none/ higher priced A-C married segment awards on those particular routes. I booked at exactly midnight a year out when inventory was released and there were tons of crappy long layover / wrong direction flights for me through DCA/ JFK/ LGA (lots of seats) but they released none A-C for my route even though A-B and B-C were released. Granted, that isn't to say they may not randomly release A-C later for my desired routing, closer to flight date.

To be clear: AAdvantage awards on AA metal are still either 1) MileSAAver, at the MileSAAver price with MileSAAver availability or 2) AAnytime, at whatever the AAnytime price for that day on that route is, with last seat availability, right? So thereís no variation in the price of a given award (except for the variable AAnytime pricing which is entirely unrelated to married segment availability), just the availability, right?

The (major) difference from a few years ago is that availability of AAA-BBB-CCC is not directly tied to the availability of AAA-BBB and BBB-CCC; AAA-BBB-CCC may be available while AAA-BBB and BBB-CCC are not and vice versa (the vice versa part being what the OP was surprised about). And in some cases AAA-BBB and BBB-CCC may be individually available as MileSAAver awards and the sum of those two MileSAAvers may be less than an AAnytime AAA-CCC, so ticketing it that way (which may require separate tickets) becomes desirable. That introduces a different cost for AAA-CCC, but itís still the same cost for each individual award.

I dont' think that you missed anything - just the addition that for partner awards, the same situation applies , except that there are no anytime awards offered on partners

I don't understand why a partner like BA wouldn't be able to put the 2 flights on the same trip. While AA may have certain restrictions requiring AAnytime awards for A-B-C itineraries even when A-B and B-C is available, as far as BA is concerned, if there is A-B and B-C availability, why couldn't they just put it on the same ticket like any other multi-city trip?

What about dropping segments? If A-B-C-D is available but A-B-C isn't, can you drop segment D?

I don't understand why a partner like BA wouldn't be able to put the 2 flights on the same trip. While AA may have certain restrictions requiring AAnytime awards for A-B-C itineraries when A-B and B-C is available, as far as BA is concerned, if there is A-B and B-C availability, why couldn't they just put it on the same ticket like any other multi-city trip?

What about dropping segments? If A-B-C-D is available but A-B-C isn't, can you drop segment D?

The availability will be the same. It isn't an AA award rule that would restrict them being on the same itinerary, simply that there is no availability from A-C via B , Booked as 2 separate awards, then the married availability will not come in

The availability will be the same. It isn't an AA award rule that would restrict them being on the same itinerary, simply that there is no availability from A-C via B , Booked as 2 separate awards, then the married availability will not come in

Cannot see why BA would be able to circumvent the availability issue

I've always figured that as long as the individual segments were available, they could piece it together on an itinerary as a multi-city trip (with connection time determining whether it qualifies as a stopover or a connection). I thought the question of availability was whether each segment was available, not whether the whole itinerary was available. That is, I thought the system was searching for A-B and B-C to determine availability, not A-B-C together.

This new change is contrary to the way programs like Avios fundamentally operate - there is no concept of a stopover with Avios, because Avios views each segment distinctly, which is why they price each segment independently (no free connections). BA's system isn't capable of understanding that two segments would be available individually, but not together. That's why it shows false availability for A-B-C when A-B and B-C are available.

I've always figured that as long as the individual segments were available, they could piece it together on an itinerary as a multi-city trip (with connection time determining whether it qualifies as a stopover or a connection). I thought the question of availability was whether each segment was available, not whether the whole itinerary was available. That is, I thought the system was searching for A-B and B-C to determine availability, not A-B-C together.

This new change is contrary to the way programs like Avios fundamentally operate - there is no concept of a stopover with Avios, because Avios views each segment distinctly, which is why they price each segment independently (no free connections). BA's system isn't capable of understanding that two segments would be available individually, but not together. That's why it shows false availability for A-B-C when A-B and B-C are available.

That isn't how married segments work. It may be that BA doesn't uses this for its award bookings, so checking A-B and B-C would not have a different availability

For BA to book on AA, there needs to be availabiltiy on AA for the itinerary being booked - I cannot see why BA would successfully complete a booking if availabilty is not there. I would suspect that the searches would work, but it would fall over at point of purchase

When booking a multi city paid itinerary on AA.com, it is quite possible to search by segment and then build up an itinerary , however if there is no required through availability it falls over at the end with flights are no longer available

That isn't how married segments work. It may be that BA doesn't uses this for its award bookings, so checking A-B and B-C would not have a different availability

For BA to book on AA, there needs to be availabiltiy on AA for the itinerary being booked - I cannot see why BA would successfully complete a booking if availabilty is not there. I would suspect that the searches would work, but it would fall over at point of purchase

When booking a multi city itinerary on AA.com, it is quite possible to search by segment and then build up an itinerary , however if there is no required through availability it falls over at the end with flights are no longer available

Yeah, since my main program is Avios the idea of "availability on AA for the itinerary being booked" is foreign to me. You don't search availability for an "itinerary"; you search for segments and piece them together. There are no award routing rules on Avios because you can do whatever you want since you pay for each segment.

It's fascinating, really, if you think about it, because I think BA as an airline is less concerned with the economics of connections because they only have one hub. The US is such a massive populous country in relation to most that the economics of connecting itineraries are very different for US airlines. So it makes sense that AA would have a more complex system for determining availability of connecting itineraries; AA needs to ensure that its itinerary with connections are profitable to the airline.